


Never to touch and never to keep

by estranged_and_wayward



Series: throbb xmas 2019 [3]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: 2000 words of acute homosexual yearning, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Pre-Canon, Robb Stark is a Gift, Snowball Fight, Throbb Xmas Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21785605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/estranged_and_wayward/pseuds/estranged_and_wayward
Summary: The North is cold and dark, but through the winds and snow, Theon sees a bright light.
Relationships: Theon Greyjoy/Robb Stark
Series: throbb xmas 2019 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1568641
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26
Collections: A Very Throbb Christmas





	Never to touch and never to keep

**Author's Note:**

> Throbbmas day 3! prompt: Winter is here

Through the heavy wind and snow, Theon saw a burst of flaming red coming at him. Where he stood on the edge of the near-empty courtyard was freezing and he pulled his cloak tighter around him. Lord Stark said that the true winter is over now and that they were in what looked like a long summer, but even still Theon was freezing. He'd been freezing ever since he stepped on the boat, ever since he'd ridden through the Winterfell's heavy gate beside the lord of winter. He couldn't seem to get warm, no matter how hard he tried he was always cold. The red was coming closer and he could hear the rustled breathing and heavy booted footsteps of the little lordling. 

The little boy split through the fog, his face red from the cold or from running, it was hard to tell exactly which. He was clutching something in his small white hand that was somehow even redder than his hair.

"Theon!" Robb cried excitedly "I was hoping you'd be here!" Everything the little stark said seemed to end with excitement. Like everything in the world was the greatest thing that's ever been. 

"What do you want Robb?" Theon asks, annoyed. The younger boy's constant happiness could be nauseating at times, especially when everything else here was so grey. Here it was grey, but not grey like back in the Iron Islands. Not grey like the sea

"Nothing," Robb said, still trying to catch his breath. "I wanted to give you this." He smiled and showed Theon a scarlet red leaf from the Weirwood tree. 

Theon sighed and allowed the leaf to be placed in his hand. "Thank you," he said. Somehow now it wasn't so cold anymore.

  
  


He looked across the courtyard where Robb sat, eating a handful of freshly fallen snow. Theon smiled to himself but hid it with a smirk. It was just like when Robb was a boy, sitting on the ground eating snow, while the flurries caught in the copper mess of his hair. He was nearly a man grown but he still smiled greener than spring, just as he did when he spotted the Ironborn attempting to cross the yard. 

“Trouble?” Robb asked when he saw Theon attempting to wade through the snow. It came up over his knees and was so heavy and wet that it weighed down his boots and made the edge of his cloak drag on the ground. 

“Oh bugger off!” Theon called, very much having trouble with getting through the white bank. The servants of the castle were yet to fully clear out the courtyard following the latest blizzard. It had been so cold the previous night when the storm had been raging that the Iron prince had brought not one but two serving girls under his pile of furs in order to share their warmth. They’d provided the warmth of a different type to his as well, both of them giggling and turning red when he draped an arm around each of them and led them back to his chamber after supper. He’d always had a way with serving girls, they were never difficult to lead into bed and they never asked for gold. 

The lordling stuck his tongue out at him, a childish act that would have gotten him a scolding from his lady mother should she have been there to see it. Theon just rolled his eyes and continued trudging through the snow. 

Robb chuckled again and took another handful of snow. He bit into it like an apple but just as he opened his mouth to speak, probably another jape, a snowball came flying and hit him square in the face. 

"Yes!" Theon hissed, smirking wide. He was a pretty good shot if he did say so himself (which he did). 

Robb wiped his face with the back of his sleeve "Really Greyjoy?" He said like he was baffled by Theon's own childishness. He stood up and flung a handful of snow at Theon. 

He dodged it, ducking just in time for the projectile to just graze his shoulder. While he was down he packed another handful, hitting the lordling in the abdomen. 

After that point, it was on like Robert's Rebellion. They ran or tried to anyway, around the yard, ducking behind barrels and carts that had been left out as they hurled snowballs at one another. They were both laughing and cursing like boys, snow all in their hair and down their boots. Robb ran carrying a huge armload of snow, chasing Theon all the way to the stables until the older boy slipped and fell on some ice. After making sure he was alright, Robb dumped the mountain of snow on him. He tried to make a quick getaway but slipped on the same sheet of black ice as Theon, landing with a 'thud' beside him. 

For a minute they both just laid there, laughing as they tried to catch their breath. Theon's teeth chattered and he could see his breath flying from his mouth in a thick white cloud. He looked beside him to see that Robb's was the same. He turned his head to the side to meet Theon's gaze. His eyes were big and blue as always, his cheeks flushed and his Auburn hair a mess of melting snow. He was smiling, still giggling a little with his chest rising and falling steadily. Theon chuckled a little, a bit of heat rising in his face despite the cold. 

After they had appeared to have calmed down a bit Theon sat up, the snow all falling onto his lap and all around him. Robb followed, having to hoist himself up using his hands. And for whatever reason, they started laughing again the moment their eyes met. Darkness was beginning to fall and the wind had begun to blow but here they were, a ward and a lordling sat in the stables covered in snow laughing like two old drunks lost in a wine-filled daze. Then when they finally finished laughing there was a particularly bone-chilling wave of wind that made Theon shiver. He was suddenly aware of all the wet snow covering him. It had seeped through his breeches, his tunic, soaked his hair and even found it's way down his boots. 

"Are you cold?" Robb asked, hardly affected by the frozen air. In his blue eyes, Theon could see a bit of Lady Catelyn. They were such beautiful blue eyes that the Tullys had. Like the swirling sea, Theon found himself getting lost in them. 

"It's bloody freezing out here," Theon complained. He pulled his cloak around him to no avail, it was almost frozen solid. 

“Let’s get inside and get a fire burning before you freeze to death,” Robb said, stumbling on the ice as he stood up. He held out a hand and Theon felt as if it were 9 years earlier and he was sitting on the frozen ground again, looking up into a shimmering copper light. He took the hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. 

Robb led him through the castle and up to his chambers. It was almost like how Theon had led those two girls up to his own chamber the night before, except this time he knew there would be no ‘warming up’ of that sort. 

Theon stood watching Robb as he tried to start a fire in the hearth. Over the years Theon had come to learn that no matter how much wood he burned or how many furs he piled atop himself, his room was always freezing. It was even worse when he was alone. That room grew so dark and cold that he swore that he could have frozen to death in the night. That was why at times he had girls spend the night in his room after he fucked them, not just so that he could have her again after they woke up, although that was also a nice benefit. Robb’s room, on the other hand, was always warm. And Theon didn’t even have to ask to sleep there, Robb just let him. 

“You should probably take off your cloak, its drenched,” Robb told him as he took off his own cloak. 

“Well, who’s fault is that?” Theon teased as he draped the garment over the back of a chair. 

“Hey, you’re the one who threw the first snowball.” Robb protested as he pulled one of his boots off. 

“And I’ll throw another if you don’t shut your trap Stark” he snapped back. He took off his tunic and all the woolen shirts beneath it, trying not to look too hard as the little lord did the same. They continued to bicker back and forth as they undressed. He tried even harder not to look at Robb’s body as he unlaced his wet breeches. After they were both in their smallclothes, thank the Gods those were had been spared, Robb tossed him a pair of new breeches as well as an old threadbare shirt. They were both Robb’s but he’d grown as much that they fit Theon almost perfectly. And as he pulled the shirt over his head he couldn’t help but notice that it smelt like Robb. 

They shared a small flagon of warm golden wine by the fire before climbing into bed. The chill had left Theon’s spine by then and it all but disappeared as the redhead snuggled into him. Wine always had the tendency to make the Stark boy clingy so Theon should have expected this. But still, he sighed.

Theon couldn't deny it. Just how badly he wanted him. How much he longed for more. It would have been so easy just to take it. They were already in the young Lord's bed and so, so painfully close. He could have taken Robb, slipped a hand beneath his breeches and started grinding his hard cock against his ass. He could have bent him over the bed and taken him like that. Like some kind of animal. Who knows, Robb might even have liked it. But no matter how desperately he craved Robb he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not without permission, he could have taken anyone, that's what the Ironborn did after all. They took what they wanted. 

But he wanted, no  _ needed _ Robb to want it. Theon wanted him to want it,  _ to want him _ so bad that it almost hurt. He wanted him to beg for it. For Robb to want him so badly as Theon wanted him. 

That was all he really wanted. He didn’t just want to fuck Robb, he wanted to hold him. 

He wanted it. But it was something he couldn't just take. It would have to be given. 

Beside him, Robb yawned sleepily and snuggled into him. Theon sucked on his lower lip and took his eyes off the ceiling to watch the wolf's sleeping face in the fire's glow. He wanted to reach out and stroke Robb's cheek but didn't think he knew how. So instead, he allowed the boy to snuggle into him, radiating more warmth than the furnace. Maybe one day Robb would want him. And maybe one day Theon would have him. But this would do, for now, he could live with admiring him this closely. He wondered if this was how Lord Eddard watch Catelyn while she slept, or how his own lord father watched his lady mother. If they got that warm feeling in their chests. He wondered what that feeling as if it was that 'love' thing all the singers were always going on about. No, probably not. Definitely not.

He felt Robb's fingers brush over his under the furs. It took a moment for his heart to slow down and when it did, just as an experiment, he laced his fingers with the lordlings. He was so warm like he had been born in a dragon's fire rather than ice and snow. Theon wondered how the North could ever be so warm. But the heat was such that he quickly found himself struggling to keep his eyes open. It could be wondered about tomorrow; after the storm had passed. 


End file.
